This invention relates to techniques for processing ultrasound data. In particular, a method and system are provided for compressing data, in part, and performing various ultrasound processes on the partially compressed data.
Conventional ultrasound systems send and receive acoustic line data. The receive data is beamformed, detected and then scan converted to produce a raster format display for presentation on a video monitor. Typically, there is some basic image processing performed prior to the display step. Additionally, ultrasound machines typically incorporate a means for saving digital image data off-line for later review. Due to the high speeds required (real time operation =approx. 30 frames per second) the processing and saving processes tend to be simple.
One example of image processing includes using a look-up table to provide contrast enhanced images. U.S. Pat. No. 5,479,926 discloses inputting two sources of detected ultrasound data into a look-up table to provide contrast enhanced images. The two sources include an original frame of ultrasound data and a low pass filtered frame of ultrasound data. The look-up table outputs a frame of data representing a combination of the two sources of data.
Another example of image procession is filtering. Typically filtering operations on the image data are performed using expensive convolution based digital filters. Furthermore, the saving operation frequently involves using a transform (such as the Discrete Cosine Transform--a component in JPEG) prior to saving in order to compress the volume of data--to save storage device capacity and to speed up data transfer over limited capacity data links.